Architect Recommends New Roof for Park Avenue Complex

The Freehold Borough School District should consider replacing the roof on the Park Avenue Complex within the next five years, architect Richard Hopkins told the Board of Education Monday.

Hopkins, a principal with Fraytak, Veisz, Hopkins, Duthie, PC and the district’s architect record, made the recommendation during a facilities study presentation. While the roof on the older sections of the building was replaced in 2002 and is under warranty until 2017, the warranty on the 1997 extension has passed.

“Nothing in the middle of the roof has any damage or any reason to repair it, but the 1997 roof only had a 10-year warranty. You’re four years behind. It’s not bad, it’s not great. We would recommend doing this soon, within five years,” Hopkins said. 

He noted that the cost of a new roof could be offset by the installation of solar panels, which would realize savings through lower energy costs and the sale of solar renewable energy credits to utility companies. Hopkins said there should be a strategy of replacing the entire roof, not just the 1997 section, if the board pursued a solar panel system.

In the facilities study, Hopkins gave a rough cost estimate of $320,000 to replace the roof and $864,000 to install solar panels.

Hopkins also recommended the district replace the asphalt drives and parking lots on the Park Avenue Complex property. He explained that the parking lot had been repaved in a piece-meal fashion over the years, which has caused some problems with the asphalt.

“There re some dangerous pieces out there as I walked the facility. It’s not for aesthetics. You’ve had your parking lot resurfaced so many times. The curb should normally be six inches above the asphalt; in some cases, it’s only two. What they did was put surface over surface. While that is a stop-gap measure, you need to remove all that out to reset the curb,” Hopkins said.

He estimated the cost of replacing the asphalt at $910,000.

In addition to roof and parking lot concerns, which Hopkins prioritized as most in need of attention in his report, he recommended other improvements to building. The proposed improvements included waterproofing of the brick veneer, which has become porous in the decades since the building was built; replacement of the interior doors and locks for increased security; replacement of the library carpet; and adjustments to the bathrooms and the vestibule to bring the building up to full Americans With Disabilities Act Compliance.

The study projected rough total costs of all the recommended improvements at $4.382 million.